Fans will have to wait a bit longer to hear any practice news on Jerick McKinnon. The San Francisco 49ers running back who tore his ACL before the start of last season and started training camp on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list will remain on PUP until at least next week, head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Thursday.
"McKinnon, we're not going to put him in these four days, in this four-day block," Shanahan told reporters. "Then we'll get a day off (on Monday), and then we'll reassess at the next one. But we're hoping to get him back in the next set of blocks."
That doesn't necessarily mean that McKinnon will jump back into practicing once he is eventually taken off PUP. The 49ers will likely ease him back onto the practice field by giving him some light work to start things off.
McKinnon is now nearly a year removed from his ACL injury, which occurred at the end of a light practice on September 1, 2018. San Francisco signed the running back six months earlier to be the featured back in Shanahan's offense.
McKinnon entered the NFL in 2014 as a third-round draft pick by the Vikings. He has registered 1,918 yards on 474 carries with seven touchdowns through his first four NFL seasons. McKinnon rushed for 1,109 combined yards on 309 carries with five touchdowns in 2016 and 2017. He also added 94 receptions for 676 yards with four touchdown catches during those seasons.
Tevin Coleman, who was signed in March, took on the bulk of the workload during the offseason program with both McKinnon and last year's breakout running back, Matt Breida, sidelined. Both Coleman and Breida have been getting work with the first-team offense during training camp.
"Breida, finally, he missed all of OTAs, and he's getting his legs back, and he's looking good," Shanahan added.
